Slang

Insulting and describing things wouldn't be nearly as fun if we didn't create slang for them.  Everyone knows calling someone stupid isn't nearly as fun as calling someone an airhead or lamebrained and describing something as cheaply made isn't as fun as saying chintzy either. So here are some slang that you may use or may have never even heard of. 

First listed are slang insults.

Word	COHA	COCA	First Occurrence
Airhead	30	63	1973 Je n'ai pas de politique. I am an airhead.
Back*seat driver	6	11	1950 Don't be a back-seat driver, honey.
Bugger	312	260	1839 I am nothing but an old bugger, it makes no odds whether I've got one leg or two
Bum*sucker	0	0	No results
Dago	285	54	1884 And, if I did, it wuddent be for the likes of no I-talian Dago
Dit*y	22	114	1989 An exMiss America whose ditsy chirpiness conceals a viper's bite
Kook	57	152	1962 Gittel Moscowitz is a slob. Also a kook.
Redneck	133	482	1954 The farmer was a lank, long-haired, weather-reddened typical Mississippi redneck
Weirdo	77	223	1963 And, man, what a weirdo that old guy is.
Lame*brain*	18	23	1948 So this lame-brain opens it good and wide without a drop of oil in it and freezes both

The following are slang for negative descriptions.

Word	COHA	COCA	First Appearance
Chintzy	43	46	1954 I knew I had been far too chintzy about awarding medals in World War!
crappy	117	396	1937 smack down the two full pails so that the water sloshed over into the crappy muck underfoot.
Jank	42 (all names)	5 (all names)	GB (from UrbanDictionary though) 2003 They're so jank, you can see the heads of the people in front of the camera.

Technology

The last sixty years has had major strides in the arena of technological advances, most specifically the computer. Computers have vastly changed society. How we communicate, express ourselves, learn, shop, entertain ourselves, speak, and even date have all been changed in some way by technology and the computer. While this is such an enormously broad subject to cover, here is just a little taste of some technological terms.

Bandwidth was originally started in 1952 to refer to the range of frequency in regards to the radio.

Attachment originally started showing up in the 1810s but rather as a noun meaning the attachment someone has to another person. It wasn't until 1998 when if first showed up in COHA referring to something being attached to an email.

Bookmark, while originally literally meant to make a book, took on the meaning to mark an internet page to quickly go back to in 1992.

Re-boot first appeared in 1998 in COHA but showing up in 1971 in the OED.

Browser shows up throughout COHA but refers more to one who browses something. In 1992 it finally referred to a web browser. It most likely took on this name because of people “browsing” an internet webpage via a program.

Cache said to someone in the 1960s even would have probably been thought to have been mistaken for cash or a place or thing in the wild meaning a hiding place for goods. Now, cache is a commonly used tech word for something quite similar: a place to store frequently used files or data.

Chat Room was first used in the news in 1993. Most of us have probably used a chat room at least once in our lifetime, although they are no longer very popular as they were most popular in the 1990s and 2000s. If this were to have been talked about before the internet was popular, it would just sound like a special room where people went to talk to each other. Chat rooms greatly changed the way people met and communicated with each other. It even changed the way people dated.

Chips might have once only referred to little round pieces that you could bet with and trade in for money until about 1988 when it began referring to parts of a computer designed to hold information.

Download appears to show up in 1989 in COHA but it first shows up in 1977 as a noun in the OED and in 1976 as a verb.

Email has several various forms as it is transformed and used differently. The first usage of it in COHA is electronic mail in 1980, and email as well as e-mail in 1990. Email was so exciting there were even emails based around the famous line, "You've got mail!"

Mouse started in 1987 to refer to, well, a computer mouse but according to the OED first showed up in 1965. This term has posed quite the problem for people because there is one question that still stands: what is the plural for a computer mouse? If you're just dying to know, there's no specific answer. Both mice and mouses are acceptable.

Virus first appears in COHA in 1972 to refer to a program that is inserted onto a computer that makes it more or less “sick” and essentially destroys the computer.

Spam, not the combination of fake, packed meats, started showing up in COHA in 1998 referring to junk that wound up in emails but shows up in 1991 as a verb meaning to flood email or a forum, etc., with unsolicited postings or information.

ScreenSaver shows up in 1994 as a “wonderfully entertaining program [that] put[s] changing images on your PC’s screen” although the OED lists it as first appearing in 1982. Sadly, none of us are probably old enough to actually remember a time when a computer did not have a screen saver!

Project 3: The Vietnam War

To view chart, go here!

Lexicon by Decade: Insults and Compliments of the 1920s

                                  

The 1920s was a great period of social change. People were breaking free of the bonds and norms previously held and creating an entirely new way of life. The greatest example of this change was the flapper. She changed the roles and expectations places on women at that time and with her help and the rest of the social revolution occurring came a slew of insults and compliments, some of which are still used today. 

Insults:

Bearcat- A hot-blooded girl; In Google Books, it came up quite a bit but it was mostly incorrectly read texts that actually said bearest. There was a spike in the 1920s but most references seemed to relate to agriculture or the wilderness. In COHA, the first uses of “bearcat” occur in 1920, with the intended meaning.

Bimbo- a young woman that is promiscuous or unintelligent. This stemmed from the original usage meaning a male bimbo in 1919 which came from the Italian use of the word meaning "baby."

Crackers- Someone who is crazy. This was originally British slang that, as explained in 20th Century Words, "combines the idea of having a 'broken' head with the suffix -ers."

Dumb Dora- A dumb girl; again no hits in Google Books but in COHA, it began to be used in 1920 and was used once or twice a decade until 1970 where it seemingly disappeared. It doesn’t seem that this was a frequently used saying.

Hincty/Hinkty- This term describes someone that is conceited or stuck-up. It's origins are unknown but according to 20th Century Words, it may have come from "handkerchief-head" which is an "Uncle Tom Negro."

Nobody Home- Someone that’s dumb; In Google Books, the first usage that fits this description is in 1922. The COHA has it starting in the early 1940s and slowly rose. It has remained pretty steady, which makes sense since it is something we still sometimes say today.

Nitwit- This is a stupid person. It orginally was a term of a specific British dialect but it became widely popular by the end of the decade. It is thought that the term started by saying someone has the brains of a nit, or a louse. 

Pill- an unlikeable person; This is very hard to find since it is a noun used in regular speech. I was able to find it in 1921 with this meaning.

Wet Blanket-A killjoy; Originally showed up in 1920

Compliments:

Bee’s Knees- something or someone that is extraordinary. Very common to compare someone to some form of animal anatomy.

Blue-eyed Boy- This is a particularly favored person, specifically a male--pretty obvious based on the term itself.

Cat's Whiskers- Similar to "bee's knees" in that in is something tiny or insignificant but the very best.  This is one of the best-known term of "excellence" and has been one of the longest-lasting according to 20th Century Words. Also followed the pattern of comparing someone to a form of animal anatomy. Other forms of this include cat's meow and cat's pajamas.

Doll- An attractive girl; 1920-Mostly found to be used for girls who were pretty and dainty but didn’t speak.

Keen- Attractive or appealing; I was able to find in in COHA referring to objects or about a feature of someone, such as eyes, but not of a person themselves.

Macho- An especially manly or virile male. There are actually no reports of it being used in COHA and it didn't really start to pick up a lot of usage until the 1950s though it is certainly a word that is still used today.

Sheik- A strong, romantic male; I couldn’t find any direct examples referring to a male being sexy, but I did find one or two referring to a male being important, like a Sheik of a tribe or community. In 20th Century Words it is in reference to a novel called The Sheik, "a bodice-ripping novel in an Arabian setting."